


Valkyrie

by The_Jade_Goblin



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-15 06:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11799963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Jade_Goblin/pseuds/The_Jade_Goblin
Summary: Mass Effect AU.Commander Danica Shepard leads the most secret infiltration team in the galaxy, so secret its name is only a legend: The Valkyrie Project. The most elite warriors in the galaxy, fit for only the most dangerous missions from the Council.At least, she used to. After a betrayal led her team into a massacre, Dani has been living in Omega as a waitress, wanting nothing to do with the affairs of the galaxy again. Until her former teammate, Garrus Vakarian, saunters on back into her life, and with him, the biggest threat the galaxy has ever seen.





	1. Chapter 1

Dani stumbled out of the bar, grumbling to herself. Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she flipped her hair out of her face and went out into the rain.

She should have gone home hours ago. She considered lighting up a cigarette, then decided against it as the rain got heavier, forcing her to hunker down in her flimsy jacket.

This was not mini skirt weather, that’s for sure. Tell that to her boss though, you’d never convince him to change the uniform no matter what logical argument you put to him.

That’s what she got for working with a damn Hanar she supposed, cheap arses the lot of them. D

id Hanar even _have_ arses? Dani couldn’t help making a face at the thought. Great, not the visual she wanted that evening.

She would have left work after her shift, but the bar was so warm and that guy kept offering to buy her drinks, so why the hell not? Might as well enjoy herself.

That was at 10PM, it was nearing 3AM now. Oh well, it’s not like she had anyone waiting at home for her. Her boot heels clicked against the steel of the over-walk, and Dani looked out over the streets far below on Deck 2.

A strong wind would knock her off to her death. She often found herself thinking about that when she first came to the station, now she barely noticed the height.

She had momentary relief from the rain as she entered the lift that would take her Deck 1.

Dani reached up to her ear tap at her implant, the HUD visor materialising in front of her eyes, filling with data streams as the lift went down.

She scanned the data for a moment, before tapping at her implant again to switch off the stream.

The implant fizzled at the disconnection and she flinched slightly. Damn it.

She needed to get that checked. Kept forgetting.

Funny the things you can forget to keep maintained when you work minimum wage for long hours at a dead-end job and didn’t give two fucks about what the next day would bring.

Dani tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the lift to get to her destination.

Getting the lift to Deck 1 was always depressing, you watched the glittering buildings turn into quickly constructed, rusted hack-shacks that kept the station together, but altogether looked like trash.

Well, if the shoe fits. There were worse fates than Deck 1, she could be in the slum beneath the station at the mercy of the Cleaners.

Omega was a serious shit hole, but it was home.

The lift came to a shuttering halt, and Dani exited to the dimly lit streets of Rust Town. Aptly named, but she would have gone more creative places with naming the place.

Like Hel’s Den. That’d be a good name for a club, or a really bad indie band. At least she didn’t have to go far, she only lived a few blocks away.

The rain was barely dripping this far down the station, caught up in Deck 2 where the atmosphere processor actually worked. A few water streams made their way down though, the water trickling down into over-rusted drain pipes to be pumped back up to the reservoir on Deck 4. Somewhere, a stray cat-weasel yowled.  

Dani kicked off her shoes the second she got into her little hallway, not even bothering with the light as she shrugged out of her drenched coat and hung it on the door and let it close itself behind her.

Home crappy home. Her first destination was the kitchen, looking in the fridge in the vain hope something new had sprung up in her absence.

Nope. Needed to go food shopping. She found a protein bar, and snatched it as she straightened up and kicked the fridge closed, turning on heel to walk into the dining room.

“So, this is you now then?”

Instinct kicked in, and Dani spun around to the source of the sudden voice, her sidearm in her hand. Whoever was hiding in her darkened living room just chuckled at the gun she pointed at them.

“Who do you expect to kill with that little party popper? You’re getting complacent Shepard.”

Dani frowned, and lowered her gun. “Garrus.”

The turian grinned cheekily back at her. The years had been kind to him, he'd hardly changed at all. She wondered how she compared.

She switched on the light and put a hand on her hip. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question. I mean, a waitress in some dingy pub? Really Commander?” Garrus shook his head.

"You're not supposed to call me that anymore Garrus." Dani rolled her eyes. “And it’s paid the bills. Is there are reason you’re here other than to mock my current employment, or is this the part where I kick your ugly arse out of my place?”

“Glad to see you haven’t changed.” Garrus chuckled.

“Pick one Garrus I don’t have all night, believe it or not, some people actually have these things called lives.”

“You call this a life? This isn’t you Shepard.”

“Oh, and how would you know what is or isn’t me? Skip the crap Gare, I know why you’re here. Anderson sent you, didn’t he?”

“Would you believe me if I said he didn’t?”

“Not for a second.”

“You always were the smart one.”

“What are you doing here Garrus?” Dani said in exasperation.

She wasn’t in the mood to deal with whatever shit Garrus had brought to her table. Him turning up anywhere was never a good sign, but to see her? Something was clearly going on, and he was stalling. She wasn’t putting up with that.

“Interested in some work?”

“Not even remotely.” Dani slammed her pistol on the counter and went to rummage through her cupboards for something edible.

“That’s not the Shepard I know,”

“Then maybe you don’t know me at all. I told Anderson I was done with this shit.”

“You’ve let the incident on Asteria get to you.” Garrus sounded disapproving, which just pissed Dani off.

She spun around to face him. “'Incident'? Is _that_ what you’re calling it now?"

It seemed such a small word, not something she'd use to describe that god-foresaken planet, with its surface of barren deserts, and nor was it a word she'd used in describing the events that had taken place there three years ago.

Events that still haunted her to this day. Even the toughest marines had a breaking point, and Asteria had been hers.

"What happened that day was not your fault." Garrus said firmly. "The Council have never blamed you for that,"

"Who said anything about blaming myself? _You_ were the one who let the that traitor get away!"

He was quick to stalk his way over her, towering over her with a fierce scowl. Garrus was a clear foot taller than Dani, but she just glared up at him defiantly.

"I saved your life! If it hadn't been for me you’d be dead like the rest of the squad, a little gratitude would be nice.”

“Oh gee, thank you so fucking much for this bullshit you call a life. A life where I wake up screaming every night, a life where I'm so full of tech I might as well be a cyborg! Appreciate it. I’d rather have died with my squad,” Dani hissed.

She turned, but Garrus grabbed her elbow to stop her. His talons dug into her skin with the force of his grip, but they only met the cold cybernetics that had replaced Dani's arm years ago, giving him a harsh reminder of what that day had cost her. And him.

“Don’t.” he growled. “Don’t you _ever_ say that you wish you were dead.”

Dani glanced behind her, and shivered at Garrus’s intense glare. They were at a stalemate now, and Dani didn’t know where to go from here. She turned to face him fully.

“Surprised you care so much Gare." She raised an eyebrow, gently prying Garrus’s talons off her arm. "Three years and not one call, and suddenly my life means something to you?”

“You needed time. And space. I figured you’d come back on your own. Then you didn’t. And don’t act like you’re easy to find Commander, you just dropped off the grid when you left.”

“That was the idea yes.” Dani shrugged. “So how _did_ you find me?”

“Ish.” Garrus supplied. 

Dani snorted. Loudly. “Little lout. That’s the last time I trade with him. What I get for associating with an information broker.”

“It’s not entirely his fault, I traded him something he couldn’t resist.”

“Yeah? What?

“His life.”

Dani laughed. “Good to see you haven’t changed either.”

Garrus grinned.

“So, I get the feeling this is more than a social call. You mentioned something about work? Now don’t get your hopes up, I’m still not interested, I’m just curious as to why you’re here now of all times.”

Dani lifted herself onto her kitchen counter, munching on her protein bar while Garrus leaned against the wall, watching her with those beady little eyes of his.

She had to admit she’d missed him more than she’d thought.

“Heard a rumour some months ago, thought it was nothing at first, but now I’ve got leads. Nothing concrete of course but..."

Dani stopped chewing. She looked at Garrus, a question in her eyes.

“He's back.” Garrus confirmed. “Interested in a little payback Shepard?”

Dani’s expression went dark. She sighed heavily, throwing her wrapper into the bin.

“Garrus, I said I was done, and I meant it.” She said carefully.

“You're going to just walk away from this? The bastard needs a bullet through his head for what he did!”

“Then you go and deliver it to him, why even come to me?”

“I thought I was doing a favour for my Commander, thinking she’d want to be the one to serve that bastard justice. But apparently not.”

“You want him dead? Kill him. But don’t drag me down that road with you, nothing good lays there.”

“So you’re just going to stay here on the cesspool of a station? Did you ever even believe in the Project?”

“' _Peace among the stars...'_ I did once." Dani murmured. "I never was one for big impossible dreams. But I have to believe I’m here now for a reason.”

“Oh really? And how’s that working for you? Waitressing in a dive bar for sleezy guys in the ass-end of the galaxy? There's nothing for you here Commander."

“You don’t know that.” Dani snorted. “And stop calling me that. It’s just Dani now. Commander Shepard died on Asteria, and her damn dreams with her.”

"That's bullshit and we both know it." Garrus growled, refusing to accept she was happy to waste away on this god forsaken station that smelled of sewage and cheap perfume. "She's still in there. The Commander Shepard I remember wouldn't stand still knowing that traitor was still breathing air, she would have never abandoned the Project and be complacent with this sorry excuse for an existence."

"I can't go back there. I won't." She didn't look at him, refusing to meet the hard stare she knew so well. Her fists were shaking.

"You're too stubborn for your own good." Garrus shook his head. "The Valkyrie Project fell apart when you left you know; you're the only thing that could bring it back from the dead. We need it now more than ever Shepard."

"Please." her voice was quiet now, barely above a whisper. "Garrus, please."

There was a long pause.

"You're really not the Shepard I remember, are you?"

Her eyes flickered over to his disappointed face, and tried not to let it get to her. It was harder than it should have been. She said nothing in response.

Garrus sighed. "All right. I'll leave. If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

She nodded, and watched him go, unclenching her tense fists only when the door shut behind him.

She breathed out a long sigh, falling back against the kitchen counter, letting her legs dangle over the edge.

She didn't realise how exhausted she was until she fell asleep. 

 

_"Enemies everywhere! Take cover!"_

_The explosion was brighter than anything she'd seen before, blinding her as she fell back to escape the blast._

_She screamed when the wall came tumbling down on top of her, trapping her arm beneath the rubble._

_"Thane come in! Garrus! Mordin - anyone!" Shepard screamed into her comms. "Someone report!"_

_She got only static. Nothing on the other end. She tried to wedge herself out from beneath the wall, but the crushed ligament in her tore with the movement._

_She let out a howl of pain. Tears welled in her eyes as pain enveloped her, making her dizzy and her vision wobble._

_In the distance, she could hear gunfire. Her team? Her visor lit up, the data streaming over her eyes. Or not. No data. No vitals._

_Thane’s vital signs flickered feebly, before going out completely. Garrus's were bad but alive, and his location getting ever closer._

_"Commander!"_

_A body threw itself down next to her, and she turned to see Garrus leaning over her._

_"Gare what happened?"_

_"I don't know Commander. Bomb shouldn't have gone off yet, not while the Major was handling it."_

_"A misfire? I couldn't see his stats on my visor, where is he?"_

_"His vitals are good. He's no longer in the area Commander. This was no accident. The others are dead."_

_Shepard opened her mouth, but all that came out was a scream._

 

Screaming, Dani jolted upright, and in doing so launched herself off the kitchen counter she'd fallen asleep on, and fell onto the ground with a painful thud.

Groaning, she checked the time on her omni-tool.

"Fuck."

Her alarm didn't wake her up. She was forty minutes late to work.


	2. Chapter 2

"Betty could you get me two coffees please? Black, two sugars. Thank you!" Dani ran back to the kitchen to fill out her latest orders, leaving her co-worker to the coffee machine.

Being a waitress honestly didn't suit her, but what other kind of work could a girl get on a space-station? Dani had no resume - that wasn't classified anyway - and no skills beyond killing people.

Not exactly the best outlook for a woman who just dropped out of space one day looking for a job.

She was lucky this place even hired her, let alone kept her on - she'd been in and out of odd jobs for years now before she landed this job nine months ago - she still hadn't quite gotten the hang of it.

Giving Betty a grateful smile, she took the tray of coffees of the woman's hands, along with the plates of food ordered, and brought them to the customer's table.

It was rare to see humans above Deck 1 or the slums, but Betty lived on Deck 2 - luxury in comparison.

Dani figured she had a story to go with that miracle, and had tried to coax it out of her for months, but she'd had no luck.

Betty was nice, but didn't talk much about herself.

She was the only other human working here besides Dani, apparently the diner didn't usually take on human employees - too slow in the kitchen they said.

Well that was easy for a Hanar to say, all octopus-like as they were with their tentacles.

Dani glanced towards the back door as she headed back to the kitchen. That door lead downstairs to the nightclub where she worked her night shifts.

Right now it was being attended to by other employees, ones she desperately wished would switch shifts with her. She hated her day job. She sighed in aggravation.

Well, she did sign up for this when she left Valkyrie, she had no one to blame but herself.

Surely she could be content with being a skinny little nobody on a shitty station at the ass-end of space.

Her conversation with Garrus the previous night came back to her, if only briefly, for she had no time to dwell on that, she had orders to fill and so little damn time.

She smoothed down her hair, flipping her ponytail over her head to look at the tips critically. Time to re-dye it; the blue-black colour was fading.

She could always get her hair genetically modified, save money on the cheap dye she bought at the drugstore, but that operation was pretty damn expensive.

Her flaming orange roots would start showing soon.

While she was musing in the kitchen, passing the salarian cook - he gave a little wave with one of his antenna…things on his head – Dani had no idea salarians could even _do_ that – a few tall men entered the diner. Big, burly, mean-looking men.

Betty looked nervous, looking out for the boss, while Dani remained unaware of the potential danger.

She changed the baskets in the deep-fryer and was sorting out the clean kitchenware when she heard it.

Gunshots. Gunshots and screaming.

Dani dropped the fork she was holding and ran out of the kitchen, ducking behind the counter to grab her pistol from her handbag.

There was a thud close by, and she looked up into Betty's dead eyes, as she lay on the ground, her blood pooling around her head. Dani sighed quietly. She'd liked Betty.

She drew her gun and ducked out from cover. With one shot; she'd disarmed one of the men; with another, one was dead; with a third, a shoulder and two legs had been shot out. She was nothing if not precise.

Dani looked around - all the customers were either dead or had fled the scene already.

She could hear the cook on the phone to the authorities - well, the Blue Suns 'protection' the owner had bought, let's be real there was no such thing as law on Omega.

Her boss was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm sorry Betty," she said, looking down at the dead woman.        

She stalked over the two remaining men, injured and on the ground.

One dived for a gun, but Dani shot him in the head before he could reach it, and turned to the remaining survivor.

"Who the hell are you and why are you here?" she demanded.

“Fuck you.” He spat.

Dani kicked him. Hard. Blood spat out of his mouth, and she pointed her gun down at him.

“Wrong answer. Try again.”

“You think I’m gonna tell you anything? You can’t even imagine what he’d to me if he knew I’d sold him out.”

“So, you’re here for me then?” Dani guessed. At his silence, she smirked. “Oh come now, might as well share the good stuff.”

Dani turned and began to search the rest of the squad, seeing if they had any interesting gear she could use.

“You know you really ought to be more afraid of me than whoever sent you here.”

“He’d hurt me in ways you can’t imagine if I told you anything.”

“Yeah, maybe. But consider this: you have a chance of outrunning him if you survive today. Right now; you’ve got me to deal with. Choose wisely.”

“You…bitch…”

The man lurched for the gun on the ground, and Dani spun around at the sound of his movement, but she was too slow to counterattack.

By the time she had her gun ready, the man had been shot in the dead; dead.

She turned to the door to see Garrus lazily putting away his sniper rifle and sauntering on in like some kind of action hero. She rolled her eyes at his smug look.

“You’re late.”

“Traffic was bad.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Come on; Blue Suns’ll be here soon, we should get going.”

Dani smirked. “Aw Gare, not scared of a few mercs are you?”

Garrus scoffed and followed her out the door. “No, I’d just rather not waste my bullets on those idiots. Pointless firefights in this economy Shepard? You don’t get much on a vigilante’s salary you know.”

“Doing better than me. Come on then; let’s go see Aria. Nothing moves in Omega without her knowing – and I want an explanation.”

 

 

 

“Shepard we know what happened.” Garrus said firmly.

“Yeah I heard you the first ten times Garrus. I’d like more proof than your say-so thanks,”

Garrus snorted. “If it was your word I’d believe you.”

Shepard sighed. “I just…it’s all so too simple. You show you randomly, out of the blue, to tell me you’ve finally tracked _him_ down after all these years, and the day after I get attacked by mercs sent by him? It’s a little too easy don’t you think? How does he even know where I am? Unless – ”

“Unless what? You think I lead them here?”

Shepard stopped in her tracks at the accusation and turned to the turian.

“Not on purpose Gare, you’d never put me in danger like that. I think someone’s been tracking you.”

Garrus’ subvocals hummed low in suspicion.

“I don’t like the sound of that. Shepard I – ”

“Hey it’s alright, probably would have found me eventually anyway, and I wouldn’t have had the heads up.” Dani shrugged.

Garrus’ shoulders were hunched in apprehension as he followed Dani into Afterlife and up to the balcony where the asari made her haunt.

Aria’s guards stepped forward at their arrival, but Dani just breezed past them to approach Aria, ignoring their guns pointed at her.

“You’ve got some explaining to do Aria.”

Aria looked up from her nails uninterestedly, looking at Dani with a bored expression. She waved away her guards.

“You’ll have to be more specific Shepard. A lot of things go on around here.”

“Not without your knowledge they don’t. I have mercs on my ass out of the blue random, you’re telling me you knew nothing about that?”

“I might have noticed them passing this way. It was nothing you couldn’t handle, plus your little turian lapdog was on the station. I knew you’d be fine.” Aria shrugged.

“Dammit Aria.” Dani sighed, rubbing her temples in exasperation.

Aria inclined her head to the seat on the sofa beside her, and Dani took a seat.

“What do you need?” Aria asked.

“I need to know where those mercs came from, and who sent them.”

“As to the who…I can’t honestly say. But the where; I have the navpoint from the system their ship originated from. You going after them Shepard?”

“You got a better plan?” Dani said wryly.

Aria chuckled. “Any threat on your life must be answered accordingly yes? I’d expect nothing less from a Valkyrie.”

“Any other helpful tips Aria?” Garrus asked, folding his arms over his chest.

“I owe you no favours Garrus.” Aria said lightly.

“I did get rid of those merc bands for you in my Valkyrie days remember.” Garrus pointed out.

“Which you would have done anyway, you’re predictable like that. Always wanted to be a vigilante. Now, your Commander, on the other hand – we go way back.” Aria smirked.

She turned to Dani. “I won’t forget how you helped me win this place, nor how you helped defend my rule from those terrorists when Cerberus took over. You helped me win back my place and my life, and I have something that might help you get yours back.”

“You say that like I want it back.” Dani said.

“Oh come now Shepard, you know you do. This being a humble nobody isn’t you; you miss the thrill of battle. You’re a soldier Shepard, you always will be. I’m surprised you managed to keep up this little farce for as long as you did in fact.”

Dani shrugged. “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think Aria.”

Aria laughed. “Shepard. Fought with you. Only a woman born out of battle fights like that. As a token of our long friendship, I pass this along to you.”

“What’s this?” Dani took the datapad Aria handed to her, turning it over in her hand.

“The navpoint, and communications I intercepted Council regarding you. I think you will find them interesting.”

“And you got this how?”

“You asked Ish to help you disappear, but that rat’s about as loyal as a weasel. Lucky for you, Ish is scared shitless of me, and anything regarding you I ordered him to forward on to me. I knew you wanted that life to stay away, and as such I’ve held onto anything that life has tried to get to you. Now I’m giving it back.”

Dani looked down at the datapad, then over to Garrus before she shook her head and smirked.

“Concerned about me Aria? Protecting me all these years, saving this information, what will people say?”

“Repeat that outside this place and I’ll have you shot.” Aria grinned menacingly.

“Noted. I do love our talks Aria, we should do this again sometime. Right now I’ve got mercs to hunt.”

“Hunt well Shepard.”

Dani’s friendship with Aria was something Garrus would never understand.

They’d been friends – or frenemies really – since before Garrus had joined the Valkyrie Project, and from what he had pieced together over the years, the young teenage Shepard had been in a merc gang along with Aria, and revolted against their band leader to put Aria in charge, which led to Aria taking over Omega.

Years later, Valkyrie Shepard had run into Aria on the Citadel, having been ousted from Omega by that human terrorist group Cerberus. She took leave from her duty to help win it back.

Even still, their relationship seemed to swing between mutual respect for each other’s dangerous power and a nostalgic bond from a time when trust didn’t exist in their lives.

They always seemed ready to kill each other at a moment’s notice, even if they did work well together.

“Alright Gare, this navpoint originiates several system away. We’re gonna need to book transport I guess,”

“Oh, about that. I called in a few favours before I came to find you.” Garrus said.

Dani looked at him curiously, before he nodded out the porthole to the docking bay. Dani looked over his shoulder, and stopped.

“Well I’ll be dammed.”

The ship docked at the station was a familiar one.

The SSV Normandy.

“Welcome home Shep,” Garrus said.

“Huh.” Dani said mutely. “Good to be back.”


End file.
